Tales from the Madhouse: An insider critique of psychiatric services (Meet the Author Session)

Gary Sidley

Registered clinical psychologist, freelance writer/trainer

Gary is a freelance writer, blogger, activist and trainer. In 2013, he opted for early retirement from his post of Professional Lead/Consultant Clinical Psychologist after 33 continuous years of employment in NHS mental health services. Throughout his career, Gary has presented numerous workshops on a range of topics including: the psychological factors underpinning suicidal behaviour, stigma, advance decisions, cognitive behaviour therapy and the limitations of risk assessment. He writes on a range of topics, including: alternatives to biological psychiatry (his book, Tales from the Madhouse: An insider critique of psychiatric services was published by PCCS Books in February 2015); general interest articles and humour. Gary is also a moderator of the ‘Drop the Disorder!’ Facebook group.

Abstract

The book constitutes a persuasive critique of current psychiatric practice within Britain’s National Health Service. Drawing on the author’s 33-year experience of working as a mental health professional –psychiatric... [ view full abstract ]

The book constitutes a persuasive critique of current psychiatric practice within Britain’s National Health Service. Drawing on the author’s 33-year experience of working as a mental health professional –psychiatric nurse, clinical psychologist and manager - the detrimental impact on service users of psychiatry’s stubborn, fallacious and self-serving claims that mental health problems reflect a biological illness are starkly illustrated.

Two distinctive aspects of the book set it apart from other anti-psychiatry books. Firstly, the original structure with each chapter divided into an initial concise, but scholarly, review of a topic, followed by detailed anecdotal observations that vividly illustrate how the topic in question plays out within psychiatric services. Thus, the book will be of interest to mental health professionals, service-users and intelligent general readers. Secondly, the author’s extensive experience within the psychiatric system renders his account an insider perspective that is difficult to dismiss.

Following a historical overview of how psychiatric services have purportedly advanced since the days of the large asylum, while the mendacious fundamentals of biological psychiatry have endured, subsequent chapters consider each of the negative consequences of assuming mental health problems have primarily a biochemical cause and represent 'an illness like any other'.

Topics covered that are particularly pertinent to psychosis include:

1. stigma, and how it impinges on the lives of those identified as ‘mentally ill’;

2. overuse of psychotropic medications, and the underestimation of the harm associated with them;

3. misuse of power within the framework of the fundamentally discriminatory Mental Health Act;

4. risk aversion and the associated defensive practices;

5. pessimism & low expectation, particularly pertinent given the high level of suicide in this clinical population.

An extended final chapter proposes a multi-level series of changes that would improve the ways that services, and society in general, respond to human suffering.